Playing Games
by kouklitsa
Summary: Playing games is no longer fun when your family and friend are put in danger. Things take a turn for the worse. Finally updated after 7 months... Chapter 8 is now posted with apology!
1. Chapter 1

Author: Leoloco and Kouklitsa (collaborated writing and beta)

Pairing: Non, for once…..but maybe a hint later on

Rating: Nothing shocking, if you can watch the show, you can read this

Summary: Playing games is no longer fun when your family and friend are put in danger.

Disclaimer: I am a mere mortal and therefore cannot own anything as divined as Numb3rs.

Leoloco's disclaimer: What Kouklitsa said.

Feedback: Greatly appreciated!

Warning: No spoilers

-----

Charlie sat in his office working on something on his laptop, deeply concentrated. It was late; the office only lit by the light that shone off the screen and the only sound heard were his fingers hitting the keyboard.

He was working on a new approach to a problematic algorithm that was bothering him for weeks now. It had suddenly come to him, like a bolt of lightning, and it just wouldn't let him go. Charlie loved having these sudden epiphanies; he had been waiting for one for a long time. Besides consulting for the FBI, teaching and giving lectures he sure missed working on problems on a higher level. It was in his nature, and he had missed it. Even though he would never say that out loud as he did not want anyone to think that he might think less of the work that he does on a day to day basis. But oh how he loved challenging his own mind…

As the solution to the problem seemed to gain more and more form something on his computer suddenly blinked and beeped. Charlie cursed inarticulately fearing that his laptop had frozen and he had forgotten to run a proper backup for hours.

When he looked closer at the screen he noticed it was indeed an error message. Or was it? Charlie's eyes gre wide as he stared at the little grey box and it's contents.

"_Hello dr. Eppes. Having a late night of work?"_

Charlie stared at his screen, completely stupefied. The message that showed up as an error had a little dark grey box which said 'ok'. He figured that he was meant to click on it so moved the mouse to the box and clicked it. The message dissapeared as soon as he did. Charlie just kept on staring at the screen not resuming his prior work anticipating a next message as he felt there was going to be another one. And he was right.

"_You shouldn't work this late" _The message said.

He had no idea what those message were and who was sending them. He had seen them before, when he had to update software, or when an error had occurred. It seemed that someone had granted themselves access to his computer and was sending messages. But who? And from where? Charlie waited a while before clicking the 'ok' button. Just as he had clicked the button, another appeared.

"_You should turn on some lights dr Eppes. Working behind a computer for so long is bad for the eyes." _The message said.

Charlie almost jumped up and started looking around his office to see if anyone was there. Confusion and a slight feeling of fear crept up on Charlie. Who was this? And how did they know the office was dark? It started to frustrate Charlie that the only thing he could do was click on the stupid box and had no way of replying to ask who was sending these messages.

"What the heck is going on here?" He whispered as he clicked on the button again.

Another message appeared on his screen.

"_You would like to know what is going on, dr Eppes?" _The message said.

Charlie stared at the screen, still confused over who was sending him these messages. Of course he wanted to know what was going on! He clicked 'ok' again.

Charlie waited. He was curious now and wanted to know who was sending him these messages and what they wanted. So far it seemed quite harmless and Charlie started to think that it were some students up to some playful fun. He wanted to wait it out a little to see if whoever they were send another message clarifying what it really was they wanted.

As Charlie peered at the screen another sound chimed, announcing a new message had appeared on his screen. Charlie moved in closer to read its content.

"_We're going to play a little game, dr Eppes. You like riddles?"_ The message said.

Charlie was left no other choice than to press the 'ok' button again, so he did. He wasn't quite convinced anymore that the person, or people, that were sending him these messages had friendly intents. The way the message asked whether he liked playing games made Charlie's stomach turn into a knot. Another message appeared on the screen.

"_Well, here we go dr Eppes; this should be an easy one for you. How many cosmologists do you need to save a LA Supernovae project from being deleted to oblivion?"_ The message said asking Charlie to press 'ok' again.

Charlie's hart stopped beating. What kind of sick joke was this? Was this a genuine threat to destroy Larry's work? He quickly stood up in search for his cell phone, and when he found it he sat back down behind the computer and pressed the 'ok' button while dialing Don's number.

While Charlie waited for Don to pick up the phone, another message appeared flaming Charlie's anger to an all time high.

"_Tick tack, dr Eppes. You are wasting time calling your brother. Concentrate on the problem. You're supposed to be famous for the ability to focus on problems. Tick tack dr Eppes… Tick tack…"_

When Charlie heard Don's voice through the phone he was unable to reply.

"Charlie?" Don's voice sounded.

How did whoever was sending these messages know that he was calling Don?

"Charlie, what's going on?" Don asked.

And why were they referring to time ticking away?

"Charlie, answer me! Are you ok!" Don pressed.

How much time did he have to figure out who these people were and what they meant with the last message?

"CHARLIE dammit! Would you answer me! Where are you and what the HELL is going on!" Don's voice echoed through the phone.

---

Don sat upright in his bed, clinging the phone to his ear. He had planned to have an early night for a change, and when Charlie had called he had only just turned off the lights.

After a couple of moments, Charlie seemed to have found his voice again and was able to answer Don on the phone.

"Don, I'm here… I... I think I have a problem here." Charlie muttered. It was clear that Charlie still had trouble finding words, and Don immediately heard the shock in his brother's voice.

"What are you talking about, Charlie. What's going on" Don asked, this time his voice on a more normal volume.

"Don, I think you need to come over here… I think… I think I'm being watched," Charlie finally managed to get out.

"What do you mean, you're being watched?" Don asked, this time sounding a little bit more annoyed. It was 11pm, and after a long day Don desperately wanted to catch some sleep. He didn't intend to fall out with his brother like that, but right now he couldn't really help it.

"I mean, someone is hacking my computer, and he knows exactly what I'm doing. He even knows the lights are out in my office, Don. So, could you please come over?" this time, Charlie actually sounded scared.

"Sure… Charlie, why not... It's not like I had any better plans right now," Don sighed, and with that he took a last look at his bed. Nope, he thought, nothing better to do.

"I'll be right there, ok? You're at CalSci, right?" Don asked, knowing about Charlie's unusual office hours.

"Yeah... and thank you Don" And with that Charlie hung up the phone. Don was sure now, something had scared Charlie and he intended to find out what.

Charlie had called Don twenty minutes ago, and in the meantime he hadn't dared to do anything. He had read the ominous message over 50 times now, he had calculated the number of vowels, the probable time spent typing the message and the individual words, the area of the box, how many pixels it contained, how many pixels were used for the letters etcetera etcetera. Charlie had contemplated the little error message over and over, but he didn't want to press the 'ok' button. Not without Don here. Even tough the 'Tick tack' reference signaled a deadline, Charlie knew he had to wait for Don. He had fought the urge to press the button a few times, but managed to stay concentrated. Waiting for Don.

He had been sitting in the same position, staring at the screen for over twenty minutes when Don came in.

"Hey Charlie, show me, what's going on. And turn on the lights next time, ok" Don flipped the light on, and came to stand right behind Charlie and looked at the screen.

Charlie had trouble finding words all of a sudden, having stared at the screen in silence for so long. Instead he just pointed to the message, and turned to look at Don. He looked tired, and Charlie suddenly felt guilty for calling Don at this hour.

As he watched Don's face, Charlie could see the concern growing in his brother's eyes. Just as he wanted to ask Don what to do, there came another sound from the computer. The message was gone, and replaced by a new one.

"_Finally, we can continue. No more games… except of course this one. No need to press the button this time, we will continue right away."_ The message said.

Charlie felt all the blood drain from his face. He looked back at Don, and found that he was still staring intently at the screen.

This time the computer made another sound, but different than the chimes before. Charlie looked back at the screen and saw the message box being replaced by a whole new sort of program. It looked like an old computer game, like the ones he used to play as a kid. It was a black box, with brightly colored letters that spelled the word 'Supernovae Rescue'.

"Supernovae Rescue? What's that supposed to mean?" Don frowned. He obviously knew nothing about the prestigious project Larry had been working on for the last few years. Charlie stammered, "It's something Larry's been working on. The message said something about me saving his project earlier. So I guess this is it."

Directly under the title, other words appeared, a game instruction. Charlie moved closer to read them.

"_Dr Eppes. You have been selected to rescue the LA Supernova project from being deleted. He objective of this game is to guide professor Fleinhardt safely to the other side of the building, before time runs out and his life's work will go up in flames. Use the arrow keys to move. Have fun!"_

"What the hell!" Don muttered. "What is this?"

Charlie felt his heart beating like a maniac, and felt the cold sweat running down the back of his neck. His hands were sweaty and he was getting nauseous. He really didn't like this game anymore.

The game menu flickered, and suddenly, directly beneath the instruction, there appeared a countdown.

"_3… 2…1... GO!"_

The game begun. It looked like the old "frog crossing the road" game. At the bottom there was a little figure, a man with a 'F' on his shirt. From both sides objects that looked like little blackboards came floating through the screen. At the top was a grey box, in the form of a big computer, supposedly representing the Supernovae project? There appeared to dance small flames around it, and when Charlie looked closer he could see that the little man at the bottom had a bucket with him. Then his eye got drawn to the clock at the upper right hand corner. He only had 32 seconds left!

Finally he realized what was going on, and he quickly moved his hand to the arrow keys. He had played this game before, but it was so long ago. He knew the objective, but his lack of skill would be the problem here. If only he had more time! He knew he couldn't afford to make a mistake, because he didn't think the person behind this thing would have given him multiple lives.

He carefully maneuvered the man (he tried desperately NOT to think of it as Larry) to the top, trying to avoid the floating blackboards. His nerves were getting the upper hand of him, and he felt his hands shaking.

"Easy, Charlie… Slow down" he heard Don say, placing a hand on his shoulder.

This helped him steady his nerves a bit, and with one eye on the clock 'only 7 seconds left!' he moved the little figure further to the top. He knew he was going too slow 'only 6 seconds left!', but he couldn't go faster or he'd bump into the blackboards. '5 seconds left!' he passed another row of blackboards and avoided getting hit by another row by a hair '4 seconds!' He now knew that he had to take risks in order to get at the top in time '3 seconds left..' and with that he took the last obstacles '2 seconds left' and finally got to the top. With one second left, he had finished the game.

The screen flickered again, and there appeared another error message box, like the ones Charlie had seen before.

"_Congratulations dr Eppes! It seems that professor Fleinhardt gets to keep his project! Let's see who you will save next time."_ The message said and after a couple of seconds it disappeared.

Charlie turned around to face Don. Both their faces were pale and neither one knew what to say for a moment. Then they suddenly spoke out the same time: "Next time?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Don had called in Megan, David and Colby and now carefully watched Charlie while waiting for his team members to arrive. Charlie, who still was staring mesmerized at his laptop screen, slouching, was letting his muscles relax a little after having stressed every single one of them over the past hour or so. Don who was still not quite sure what had been going on knew that he had to give his brother some space before start asking about the details. Charlie would snap out of it on his own time.

Don heard footsteps in the hallway and instinctively reached for his gun with one hand. He relaxed as he saw his team walk in Charlie's office.

"Glad you guys could make it" Don said.

Megan looked at Don and walked straight up to Charlie rubbing one hand over his shoulder.

"Are you ok Charlie?" She asked in a soft tone

"I don't know…" Charlie replied finally seeming to snap out whatever constrained his normal chain of thought. "I have no idea what all of this is about, to be honest."

"Start at the beginning, Charlie." Megan said.

"I was working on a new approach to a problem this evening, when out of nowhere this box appeared with a message saying that I was working late." Charlie said pointing at his screen. "It just popped out of nowhere, with no other option then to press this 'ok' button. Somehow they knew that the lights were off and when I called Don another message said that I was wasting my time. However they were, they knew exactly what I was doing."

Don stepped up.

"When I arrived, a message said that Charlie had to play some sort of game in order to supposedly save a project Larry has been working on. Should he fail they mentioned something like his project going up in flames." Don explained.

"What you do mean 'supposedly save' Don! Charlie snapped now standing up.

"Charlie, don't get all offensive. Let's look at this realistically. Some whack job makes you play a silly game and tells you that if you don't succeed Larry's project will be destroyed. Based on what? Have you seen any proof that whoever was sending you these messages was in fact serious? For all we know a couple of pranksters are having a great laugh right now.

"Are you saying that you're not taking this serious at all? Someone broke into my computer Don, which is linked to campus' network protected by the best PIX firewalls and software available at the moment. They knew exactly what I was doing with nobody here but me!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Charlie, Don does have a point here. Do you have any proof that what they threatened to do was in fact true?" David said now stepping up.

All four people stared at Charlie as he had to face up to the truth. He didn't have any proof whatsoever and he had a hard time admitting to that. It was against Charlie's nature to react without analyzing the situation first, but the way the messages had appeared on his screen had left him without the ability to reason making him feel a little embarrassed.

"No… but… no" Charlie replied softly.

"Hacking into a computer linked to a secured network nowadays is no harder than driving a car, no matter how tight the network is protected; there are people that can work around that. Of all the hacker groups we have encountered almost all of them wanted to make a statement or show off their abilities. They cause trouble, but are not really known to be dangerous" Colby added.

Don saw the defeat and embarrassment in his little brother's eyes and suddenly felt the need to stick up for him.

"I wouldn't think too much of it for now Charlie. Whatever their intentions are, we'll find out soon enough." Don said.

Suddenly Charlie's laptop crackled and chimed giving Charlie a near hart attack and startling the others in the room. All five walked up to Charlie's laptop curious to find out what had made the noise. It was another message, but not like the others Charlie had been receiving. It was a sort of document that had opened and the letter appeared one by one on the screen as if it were magic.

"_Maybe not soon enough agent Eppes. Underestimating your opponent is never a good thing, especially if it's not yours, but you brother's. You should know better… or am I now overestimating you?" _The letters spelled out.

While Don and the others stared at the message clearly indicating whoever had been behind this had heard everything that was said in the office. Don felt himself nailed to the floor upon looking at what was forming underneath the message. It was a picture…. Of all five of them staring at the computer screen! An evil laughter blared from the speakers as the picture went up in flames making Don finally regain self-control and scream at Charlie.

"CHARLIE TURN THAT COMPUTER OFF NOW!" Don bellowed.

Charlie didn't respond immediately, and David reached forward to yank the electric cord from the computer. After that he pulled the battery from the bottom, and the screen flickered to black. The laptop was turned off.

"What the hell was that?" Colby muttered, his eyes still focused on the now black screen. He turned and faced the others.

"What I want to know", Don said, "is WHO was that?" He was really angry now, not only has this person threatened to destroy the work of a good friend of both Charlie and himself, but this person was doing it in their face now. He was trying to make fun of him, and Don didn't want to play along.

"Let's take this to the office" he said as he pointed to the laptop, "and, David, I want a complete investigation through this office. Search every corner and turn over every paper."

Then Don took a look around the office, gathering in the huge stacks of papers scattered over the desk and around the office, the books piled up at seemingly random intervals all over the room, all the different memorabilia Charlie had collected over the years and the rest that everyone but Charlie would describe as 'clutter'. This would be almost impossible to investigate, let alone by one man. "All right, Colby. You too".

Then he turned back to Charlie, who had grown really quiet the last minute. He had a dazed look on his face, the defiant attitude of a few minutes ago replaced by an almost catatonic fear. "We are going to the office. Now." He grabbed the laptop off the desk, took Charlie by the arm and guided him to the door. Megan walked out after them, giving David and Colby a last sympathetic look.

---

When they arrived at the FBI's headquarters Charlie had seemed to be able to move past his initial shock. Megan had driven in her own car, and when she met the brothers Eppes at the office, it was clear that they hadn't spoken in the car.

Don walked straight to the conference room, with Megan and Charlie following him on foot. As he got there he set down the laptop on one of the desks.

"Ok Megan, assuming they can't overhear us now, what do you make of all of this?"

Megan had been thinking about that since the moment she was called in. She had had over an hour to put together a profile, and she was ready to tell them.

"Well, obviously this person knows who you are, Charlie, and judging from that last message, he is clearly focused on you. Not Don." She glanced at him, hoping he wouldn't be intimidated by that. However, Charlie seemed relatively stable, and he just looked at her with determination in his eyes.

"Also, this person has showed a great need for control, he wanted to make the rules, and he wanted to let us know he's in charge." She looked at Don again.

"The fact that he gave Charlie and you the time for you to come all the way to the Charlie's office, indicates that there was no real hostility involved at that point. As long as he felt in control, he was doing ok. Only when you questioned his authority, Don, he became hostile." Megan shifted her gaze from one brother to the next. "My guess is he just wanted to test you, Charlie. And when he heard that Don wouldn't play by his rules, he became angry."

"So we have a hostile maniac on our hands," Don sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "Do you have any idea who this person might be?"

"He could be part of a group," Megan continued, "but the usage of the first person in the last message clearly shows us that at that moment, the person was alone. And Charlie, you said that he referred to you as dr Eppes, right? And to as Larry as professor Fleinhardt?" Charlie nodded.

"This is an indication of showing respect and seniority, which could mean that this person is used to an academic environment, so maybe a university student? My guess is that he is trying to gain respect this way, showing you what he's made of. Like I said, testing you."

Megan looked at Charlie, surprised to see that same determination from before in his face. He seemed angry, and she couldn't blame him, but she hadn't expected him to shake of his fear in such a short time. Of course, she knew that Charlie still was scared, but he seemed to be converting that fear into anger, which probably was a good thing now.

When she looked at Don she noticed the same determination in his features. In the artificial lights of the conference room they both looked very tired, but stubborn. She could even see the same gestures, as they both rubbed their faces at the same time. They didn't seem to notice it, but she could see the similarities in the brothers Eppes. Not once before had they looked so much like each other, and Megan had to wonder whether the person behind all this had calculated that in. The Eppes factor.

----


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: We just wanted to let you all know that we really appreciate all the amazing feedback. It's great to see that people like reading this fic as much as we love writing it.

Because we're with two, it might take a bit longer to update than usual, but we promise we're working on it! Don't worry, we won't leave you hanging… for too long! -Amsterdam and Leoloco

---

Charlie suddenly had enough of all this talk and speculation; he never had a liking for discussing matters into detail, especially not this late at night. Charlie needed to bring matters back to basic, apply a hands-on approach pulling apart each and every facet of the problem until it would eventually all finally fit into place. He started to pace around in the conference room rubbing his chin, brows in a deep frown. To Megan Charlie looked as if deeply concentrated, but the truth was that Charlie was extremely agitated. Don noticed the look in his brother's eyes and braced himself; he knew exactly what would come next.

"I need a note book" Charlie suddenly spoke. "And a pencil".

Don shook his head and almost smiled. He knew his brother but all too well. As Charlie's pace quickened, anxious to get his hands on a piece of paper and a pencil, he saw Megan stifle a yawn Don suddenly felt how fatigued he was.

"I think we should go home and call it a day." He said to Megan. "There's not much more we can do right now at this point without any more information. First thing tomorrow morning we will compile all the data we currently have available, analyze the situation and put together an action plan."

Megan nodded and gathered her things together while Charlie walked out the conference room in a hurry to get that notebook and pencil he so craved for.

"I know you're worrying Charlie's not going to be able to sleep tonight until he gets everything he has on his mind on paper or in chalk" she said to Don.

"We've been working together too long; it's eerie how well you know me when it comes to my brother." Don answered with a slight sarcasm rubbing his tired eyes.

"All I'm trying to say is not to worry too much about him. He'll be fine. You just need to accept that's the way Charlie ventilates his frustrations. And just so you know, it's Charlie that gives it all away when it comes to you. The way he reacts around you speaks volumes" Megan said before leaving the room.

Don just stood there as Megan's words sank in. He had always known that his younger brother was a weak spot going back to when they were little, but had always thought that he had been able to conceal that well to the outside world. Not once had he contemplated that his brothers' behavior around him would reveal so easily what he so desperately tried to hide.

He decided it was time to get his brother and head for home. It was extremely late and Don felt tired. He found Charlie sitting on his desk, legs crossed, and vigorously scribbling numbers in a notebook that he must have grabbed somewhere of his desk. Don stood there looking at his brother and shook his head.

"Hey buddy. Its time to go" Don spoke.

Charlie had trouble sleeping that night. Don had brought him home, and he continued working on an algorithm to determine a way to locate the flaw in the network at CalSci. But he didn't have enough data and lacked a lot of background information to complete the algorithm, annoying him beyond belief. It also bothered Charlie that he handled the situation so poorly. He should have at least made screenshots of the messages. Now he had nothing to go on. With this last thought he slipped into a well deserved sleep.

---

Charlie woke up the following morning still feeling extremely tired. Last nights events still plagued Charlie, and he dreaded the long working day ahead of him not being able to work on the algorithm. He decided he needed to collect more data on the campus network in order to finish and he could probably use Amita's help. This was more her terrain than his. Also, he really needed to check with Larry to see that nothing had happened to his project. Altough he had completed last nights game with succes, he still needed to hear it from Larry himself.

Charlie hit the shower, got dressed and went down to get himself ready for work. His father had an early morning meeting so he found himself alone at home. As Charlie finished packing his bag the doorbell rang.

"Delivery for Mr. C. Eppes?" The man asked.

"That's me" Charlie replied a little amazed at how early it still was.

"Please sign here" The delivery man asked

"You're quite early delivering packages." Charlie asked while signing.

"Specially requested to be delivered at exactly this time sir." The man replied.

Charlie looked at the man not quite understanding.

"Exactly at this time? By who?" Charlie asked looking for a sender on the parcel.

The man shrugged and whished Charlie a good day.

Charlie closed the door and closely examined the parcel. He wasn't expecting anything to be delivered and was very curious what was inside the package. As Charlie sat down at the table as he unwrapped the brown paper uncovering a white box. Charlie slowly opened the white box and the fear and anger he felt yesterday flared up instantly.

Charlie stared at an envelope addressed to him. The way it spelt 'dr Eppes' Charlie instantly knew this was from whoever had been playing games with him yesterday. Charlie reached for the envelope but hesitated for a second. He should call Don before doing anything. But then it dawned on Charlie that the delivery man had said that the sender had especially requested the parcel to be delivered at a specific time. What if there was another deadline? Charlie's heart throbbed wildly as he decided to read the card inside the box.

"_We were playing so nicely last night Dr. Eppes, and then you go and shut down the computer with brute force… without saying a proper goodbye. That was very impolite, please don't do that again. Time to play our second game._ _You have exactly thirty minutes from the time this package was delivered to get to the campus and log on to lovely Ms Ramanujan's computer. Here's the riddle for today._

_How many polymaths are needed to locate the whereabouts of a pretty grad student before she gets herself into serious trouble? _

_Ps. Dr Eppes, contacting your brother is not advised. Oh, and please try Ms Ramanujan's cellphone, it would be so nice to hear your voice again"_

"Amita!" Charlie gasped as he made a run for the door.

---

Amita woke up with a start. Her cellphone beeped, indicating a text message. She grabbed her cell from the nightstand, and after glancing over the time she opened the message.

With every word the fear sank deeper in her hart, and she had to read the message twice to fully comprehend its contents. Then she realised, she had to run.

---

Charlie still hadn' t bought a car yet, figuring he would still be riding his bike to CalSci everyday and there was always his dad's car he could borrow when needed. Now Charlie wished he had bought that car. His dad had taken his car to the meeting, and Charlie had no other choice but to take the bike.

Under normal conditions it would take him little over half an hour to get to campus, but today he'd have to do it in less than 25 minutes. He knew it would take him some time to log onto Amita's computer, because her office was located at the highest floor of the building, and he would lose precious minutes just by running those stairs.

Fortunately, after all those years, Charlie had built up quite some strength in his legs, and he knew the shortcuts to CalSci. While riding he considered the possibility to call someone, he knew he should call Don. But he also remembered the reaction they got when Don didn't want to play along. He certainly did not want to piss off the person behind this now, not with Amita in danger.

He also considered calling Amita's cellphone, getting in contact with the person behind this. But he didn't dare to risk it now, he needed all his wits right now to reach the computer in time and log on. He raced his bike trough the streets, and he arrived at CalSci almost completely out of breath.

He risked a quick glance at his watch, and noticed that he had about 5 minutes left to reach Amita's office, and to log in on her computer. He parked his bike right outside the door and hurried inside. The buildings at CalSci were mostly the old type, meaning long corridors and big staircases. And of course, no elevators.

Charlie took the first flights of stairs in a manic hurry, and managed to keep up his speed until the fourth floor. After that he felt his knees almost buckle from exhaustion and he felt his hart beating wildly in his throat.

With only one flight of stairs to go, his back soaked in sweat and with his lungs feeling as if on fire he had to slow down. Taking in some deep breaths, and carefully avoiding to look at his watch, he continued his race to Amita's office in a somewhat slower pace.

When he finally got there, he tried to open the door, but much to his dismay he found it locked. Fumbling trough his pockets he retrieved his keyring. Exhausted and trembling he found the key belonging to Amita's door. After opening it, he made a run for her desk, and started up her computer.

Only then he dared to look at his watch, seeing how much time there was left. Two minutes. To Charlie's relief itt only took a couple of seconds to log on to Amita's computer. He had made it.

Every student and every member of staff had his own username and password, and was able to log in on every computer on campus. Charlie's mind raced a mile a minute as he stared at the log on screen. Since Charlie didn't know Amita's password, he logged in under his own name hoping that was expected by the culprit

After hitting the 'Enter' key, he expected to see the standard windows menu, but instead he was diverted to a completely white screen. Charlie almost started to panick; he didn't hit the wrong key, right? If he had, he would have to start up the computer again, and that would take time he didn't have.

Then, all of a sudden, there appeared letters on the screen. One by one, just like the message that was sent when Don and his team were in Charlie's office.

"_Good job, dr Eppes! Part one completed! Let's play another game, you do know hangman, don't you? For Ms Ramanujan's sake, you'd better. If you win this game, her location might be revealed. Let's just hope you will be on time. Hang tight, here we go."_

The letters faded to white, and Charlie took a deep breath. He still felt his hart beating like a maniac, and he was glad that he was sitting down. This time he was prepared for what was to come, he knew that whoever was doing this had found a way to hack into the CalSci network, and that they liked to play games with him.

After a few seconds another game menu, much like the one before, appeared on his screen.

This time, he recognised the layout of the game; it was on old computer version of hangman. They really expected him to play a game again? Then he realised that by playing along he might find out more about the persons behind all this. He needed more information for his algorithm, right? Well, he was getting it right now.

He looked at the picture of a man hanging in the gallows, and Charlie could see the little figure had dark curly hair. Realising who it meant to be, he swallowed hard. He glanced at his watch again, it was almost 8am, and there were people walking trough the corridors. He didn't like the feeling of being alone in the office yesterday, and he was glad he could hear life outside the office.

While looking at the screen, the game menu disappeared and instead he saw eleven stripes, and two spaces.

"-------- ---"

Directly underneath there was a picture of a keyboard, with some letters missing. All the vowels had been removed, and by looking at the partially complete gallow picture, Charlie could see that he only could make 5 wrong guesses.

Suddenly another message appeared on the screen.

"_Well dr Eppes. Five guesses to the answer of the pretty girls wherabouts. Let's just hope you are better at this game than you are at other word games…Mr Scrabble. You get 3 minutes starting from when you click on the ok button. Good luck dr Eppes."_

Charlie's breath stalled. Amita was in danger. Her life was in his hands and he had three minutes and five guesses to save it. As Charlie carefully manouvered the mouse to the 'ok' button he remembered to breathe again.

He clicked on the button and immediately the clock started to count down.

"Ok" Charlie panted. "Here we go you bastard"

---


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie was ready. If anything Charlie needed to be in control at all times, and over the past few days his life and that of the ones he loved had been controlled by someone else and Charlie had enough. He was sick and tired of feeling scared and intimidated. This was a game Charlie was more than happy to play simply because failure wasn't an option in Charlie's book. Not knowing what kind of danger Amita was in flared an almost uncontrollable anger within Charlie that could only be toned down by defeating whoever taunted him.

Charlie moved the mouse to the notorious 'ok' button and clicked. The clock started to count down as the culprit had said. Charlie stared at the keyboard while his mind converted the letters into numbers.

"Three words. Each of them one syllable… eleven letters. Three… One… Eleven. Vowels and consonants. Twenty-six letters. Five vowels. Three, one, eleven twenty-six, five…. Five is the primary number" Charlie muttered.

Charlie didn't even notice the corny game music blaring from the speakers.

As the clock continued to count down, Charlie's mind raced at lightning speed breaking down the letters into numbers. This was the only way Charlie knew how to attack this problem. Each of the vowels in the English alphabet was submitted to a calculation defining its likelihood to being part of the eleven dashes on the screen. But his calculations told him that out of the five at least three had equal probabilities of being a good hit in the problem. Charlie realized he was going to have to eliminate one to further define the simple algorithm he had formed in his head.

Two minutes and sixteen seconds were left on clock when Charlie's finger moved towards the 'I' on the keyboard and pressed it.

A loud sound announced he had made an error and part of the beam where the curly haired character was standing on disappeared. The characters simple facial features showed the corners of its mouth drop a little but Charlie felt victorious. This was exactly what he was hoping for. This was precisely the data he needed.

The clock stopped briefly at two minutes and two seconds and then continued to count down.

"Three vowels. It has to be these three." He breathed as he ran a hand through his hair.

Charlie's hand moved to the 'a' and pressed it. A loud confirming chime blared from the speakers as the letter 'a' appeared on the sixth dash in second word. Charlie didn't waste any more time as he went for the second letter he knew had to be in one of the three words. He pressed the 'e' button and another chime sounded repeating the previous process as the letter appeared on the tenth dash in the third word. He now knew that his calculations were right and without any further hesitance he pressed the 'u' button. He was now absolutely sure that that was the last vowel that had to be in the remaining word without vowels. The computer chimed and the letter appeared on the second dash in the first word.

Charlie stared at the three letters on the screen.

-u-- -a---e-

The clock showed Charlie only had one and a half minute left to complete the game and guess the three words without hanging the curly character, which would mean failing to know more about what kind of danger Amita was in. Charlie decided to tackle the last syllable first as it had the fewest letters leaving Charlie able to eliminate letter combinations the fastest. This would then give him more data on the two remaining four-letter words raising the success rate on calculating their most probable letter combinations.

Charlie's mind raced while carefully applying a number sequence to the letters in the alphabet that were likely enough to form the last word. Just as he wanted to press the letter he wanted to guess next the clock stopped and a message appeared on the screen.

"_It seems you are doing quite well Dr. Eppes, playing this lovely game. Because you have been so obedient in following our instructions, we've decided to let you in a little on how the beautiful Ms Ramanujan is doing. Please click on the link below."_

_Link._

Charlie stared at the message and the link and was ready to slam his fist in the computer screen. Whoever this was knew exactly how to push all his buttons and throw Charlie completely off guard. Charlie stared at the message and at the clock. The game was now paused. Charlie wanted nothing more than reassurance that Amita was in fact alright. But something told him whatever he was about to see or hear it would not be to reasure him the least bit. Hesitantly he played along moving the mouse to the link, furious for losing control again and feeling like a hand puppet to the person who sent these messages. Oh how he hated whoever was doing this to him. When Charlie clicked the link, terror overcame him like a tidal wave and he started shaking. Amita's panicked voice sounded through the speakers rattling Charlie to the core.

"_I need help! Someone please help me!" _Amita's voice cried in great distress.

Charlie's heart stopped. Amita's cry for help disabled him completely. It had sounded like a recording from her cell phone. Charlie stared at the still paused game and finally snapped out of the initial terror and let out the rage that had been building up inside. He let out a loud roar and pounded his fists on the computer table. A new message appeared on the screen.

"_One and a half minute left to find out what you can do to help her Dr. Eppes. Please be careful in your choices. You only have four wrong guesses left. Good luck"_

The message disappeared at once not giving Charlie any time to get himself together as the clock immediately started to count down again. Charlie sat in the chair breathing so intensely he might have been hyperventilating as he desperately tried to ban Amita's cry for help from his mind. He had to get back to his earlier chain of thoughts and get his act together. He had to regain control, for Amita's sake.

As he forced himself to think only of the algorithm concentrating on getting the last of the three words solved he moved in closed to the computer screen, sweat now running down his back. Part of this game was guessing enough letters right in order to use the button in the down right corner of the game allowing you to guess the sentence using the number of permissible wrong guesses you have left. And he had to make sure he had enough guesses left to make an attempt at guessing the sentence before time would run out.

His algorithm told him that there were numerous letter combinations, but with the 2 other words he managed to narrow it down to a few hundred all of them having one letter reoccurring more than 67 percent of the times.

Charlie's finger reached for the 'r' button on the keyboard and he pressed it. A confirming chime sounded and the letter appeared on the third dash of the last word right next to the 'e'.

One minute and 32 seconds left on the clock.

Charlie's mind continued to calculate the word probabilities on the last word and decided the word must be 'her'. He quickly pressed the 'h' button and another chime sounded and the letter completed the last word spelling out 'her' briefly terrifying Charlie again. Without knowing the complete sentence the fact that one word boar reference to Amita had a dark undertone to Charlie.

One minute and 22 seconds left on the clock.

He now had to input all the data in the algorithm he was working in his head to get as close as he could get to guessing the two remaining words right. It took Charlie a few seconds to compile all the data losing precious seconds.

One minute and three seconds left on the clock.

As Charlie was ready to make his next choice, the 's', a loud beep announcing he now had less than a minute startled him causing him to hit the 'd' instead. Charlie cursed as he heard the computer making the sound confirming his error and a second part of the beam disappeared underneath the character.

Fifty-four seconds left on the clock.

He quickly pressed the 's' and felt relieved at hearing the confirming chime and seeing the letter appeared on the third dash in the second word.

Forty-seven seconds left on the clock.

Charlie only had three wrong guessed left, five letters to guess and seventeen letters available in his algorithm. He had to hurry and calculate word probabilities for the second word. Just one more letter and it would provide him with enough information to input in the last and final algorithm allowing him to break the code.

Thirty seconds left on the clock.

As he narrowed the word probability down to again a couple of hundred possibilities fear crept up again. The probability rate of two letters was equal at a mere 47, not near enough to guarantee a good hit. But time was almost running out and none of the remaining letters had proved to be compatible with the current letters available. He had to make a choice praying it would be the correct one as his finger pressed the 'p'.

Twenty-three seconds left on the clock.

Charlie flinched at the sound of the error being confirmed. A third of the originally five parted beam disappeared underneath the character whose mouth corners now really drooped displaying how distressed it was Charlie had made another error.

Eighteen seconds left on the clock.

He now knew that he should have gone for the second letter and quickly pressed the 'l' immediately relieved at hearing the chime sounding. When he saw the letter fill up the third and forth dash in the second word he stared at the screen.

"-us- -all her" It now said.

Charlie saw all the letters fall into place as he stared at the open spaced in-between the known letters and his mind froze instantly. Was this for real? Had he gone through all this trouble for this! He shook his head in disbelief and realized he had to see it to really believe it. Another beep sounded announcing he had less than ten seconds to finish guessing before the character would be hanged dissolving the remaining two parts.

He grabbed the mouse and moved it to the button that said "Make a guess". The clock stopped at three seconds remaining and he was asked to type in the sentence. As Charlie slowly and with shaking hands typed in the letters he thought would make the sentence he was supposed to guess, tears led on by his uncontrollable anger started to run down his face. When he hit the enter button he exhaled the last bit of air he had left in his lungs as his guess was confirmed and the game was over. He just read the sentence over and over again.

Three words. "Just call her".

Charlie experienced a sensation that he had never experienced before. His mind was blank. Completely blank.

For a few moments he could do nothing else than stare at the screen, incapable of moving, feeling or even thinking.

His semi-catatonic state was interrupted by the sound of two people walking trough the corridor, talking. Charlie didn't hear what they were saying, but the mere sound was enough to bring him back to focus. He searched for his phone, and with shaking hands he pressed the number of Amita's cell phone. With the other hand he pressed the 'Print screen' button on his computer to make a copy of the image on his screen. This time remembering to try and leave some evidence for Don to look at in case the letters would disappear before he had the chance to look at them.

He clung the phone to his ear, and after only a few seconds the familiar voice picked up.

"Charlie, is that you?" The moment Charlie heard Amita's voice he let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Amita, are you ok?" Charlie immediately asked. The moment he had seen the three words on his computer screen he knew that he was being played, but now he needed to hear her voice and let her tell him she was alright. He just needed to know for sure.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Charlie, what's going on?" Amita asked, and Charlie could hear she was not her usual self. Her voice was shakey and he heard he hint of fear, making his evaporated fear flare up again.

"I'm not sure. You sure you're ok? You sound... upset."

"I… I'm ok really." Amita answered, "But I got a message this morning, from my grandmother's neighbor, saying that my grandmother fell down the stairs in her home."

"What?" Charlie exclaimed, but before he had the chance to say more, Amita interrupted him and hurriedly said "But she's alright. Apparently, nothing happened and it turned out that neither she nor her neighbor sent me that message."

"Amita, could you come over here right now? To CalSci, I mean." Charlie said, "I need to see you. I mean eh... I... eh... need to see that message." He stammered.

He brought a hand to his forehead, wanting to slap himself. How could he let something like that slip? He really hoped Amita hadn't heard it, or at least would think nothing of it. It was not like he really meant it, right? A Freudian slip of the tongue was only a figure of speech; there was no real truth in there. Everybody knew that.

"Yeah, sure. I was on my way anyway, so I'll be right there." He heard Amita say, and he was relieved to hear that she didn't mention anything about his earlier remark. She seemed not to have noticed it.

When she hung up, Charlie dialed his brother's number. When Don picked up, Charlie quickly told him what had happened during those last thirty minutes, and minutes later Don was on his way.

Charlie spent the next minutes in total frustration, waiting for Don and Amita. He was really furious right now. Someone had been playing him like a puppet. Charlie could almost feel the strings on his arms, by which he was directed to play along.

Not only was he mad at the person behind this, but mostly he was mad at himself. How could he have fallen for such an easy trick? Someone only had to mention hurting someone he cared for and they had him running around like a maniac, playing computer games and racing trough the streets. Out of control.

He started pacing around the desk, a hand rubbing his forehead and his eyes staring at the screen. The words were still there, mocking him. Reminding him of his stupidity, his naivety.

But now, things were going to change. He wasn't going to play along anymore. Charlie had had enough.

---


	5. Chapter 5

As Charlie waited he needed to be in a more comforting environment like his office, but at the same time he didn't want to leave the computer either. Still very upset over what happened he tried to clear his mind and get himself together. He finally convinced himself that it was safe enough to leave the computer as it was, lock the door again and wait for Amita and Don in his office as it would be most likely they would look for him there first.

Amita arrived at CalSci feeling even more worried and anxious than she had felt all morning. Charlie didn't sound at all well on the phone, and she wasn't sure if she could handle more bad news today, feeling sure that whatever compelled Charlie to call her sounding so upset was not going to be good news at all.

She quickly maneuvered herself through the crowd of students up to Charlie's office but when she got there she found it empty. Confused she looked around to see if there was a note where he might be and when she didn't find anything indicating where he might be it added to her already flaring frustration. Just as she wanted to leave the office Charlie walked in. He came to a full stop as the anxious desperation finally dissolved knowing, no, seeing first hand that nothing had harmed her.

"Thank god you're ok." He breathed; face white as paper and emotions again peaking.

Amita taken aback by his appearance and comment walked up to Charlie as he slowly sat himself down on his chair.

"Charlie? Why wouldn't I be ok?" She asked with worry.

Charlie sat in his chair as he rubbed his face. He looked exhausted.

"I… Today…Someone…" Charlie tried.

He attempted to find the words for what happened but found himself at a loss for them. This morning's events and the stress it involved had a greater impact on him than he was willing to admit. Amita on the other hand was now close to a panic outburst. She had a rough morning and Charlie was testing her patience dearly her by not telling her fast enough what he needed to say.

"They… they tricked you. And me. He played with us both." Charlie merely uttered.

"What do you mean Charlie? Who tricked us? Playing how?" Amita said trying to keep her cool.

"Playing games." Charlie replied finally seeing the importance in filling her in on the full story instead of uttering what to her must seem like meaningless statements.

"Someone is playing games with me, Amita. They do so through computers. They send messages that people I….." Charlie stopped to think of the right word to chose." …. care about are in danger and make me play games in order to save them. Larry's project was the first target and this morning you were the second." Charlie explained.

"What do you mean by playing games?" Amita asked not quite understanding the full story.

"Real games. Like arcade computer games, but altered to resemble me, or you or Larry's project. I know this doesn't make any sense right now, but the data on your computer will provide enough information to get the full picture." He continued.

"My computer? Why my computer?" She asked, now even more confused.

"My laptop is currently being processed at the FBI lab after the first assault. A team of experts are trying to pull up as much data possible on whoever is behind this, and hopefully that will be enough to start an analysis to back trace the source. My guess is that whoever is behind this must have known this and wanted, you being the second target, to add some additional pressure by choosing the computer in your room." Charlie finished.

Amita just stood there staring at Charlie as she processed the information he had just provided.

"So, this morning was their doing? The message about my grandmother?" She asked not really wanting Charlie to confirm.

Charlie looked at the pained expression on her face and felt horrible to validate her thoughts. He hated that they had power over him, but it bothered him even more that they had control over the people close to him. First Larry had been targeted and now Amita.

"Yes. That was their doing." He spoke softly.

"I can't believe this! I called the alarm line for goodness sake. Had to explain something I couldn't explain to those paramedics!" She cried out tears building up.

"I know…. I heard you screaming for help…" Charlie whispered.

Amita starred at Charlie in utter disbelief.

"You heard me scream for help? How?" Her voice trembled.

"They probably managed to capture your call to the emergency line. I was asked to click on a link if I wanted to know how you were doing. It was implied that you were in danger and I had to play along with the game to find out what I could do to help, to save you from whatever danger you were in. When I clicked on the link all I heard was your cry for help" Charlie said his eyes fixed on the ground.

Amita realized, not even knowing the full story, that whatever she had been through this morning was nothing compared to what Charlie must have gone through.

"They didn't let you hear everything…." She gasped.

"No…I guess they didn't…" Charlie said sourly.

Both just stared at each other when Don walked in. Charlie's head moved towards his brother and suddenly realized he felt a little hesitant towards him. At once he was reminded of how Don had reacted after Larry's project had become the first target. He remembered he felt attacked when his brother had dismissed Charlie's inclination that this was a serious threat by commenting that it might have been the act of students having a go at the teacher. And the fact that this morning had proven to be a façade, that Amita had been in no danger whatsoever, did not contribute to Charlie feeling confident that Don would even consider taking this serious at all now.

"So, what happened?" Don asked

Amita looked at Charlie and noticed he was tense. Charlie took his time to answer his brother not quite sure how to word this morning's events without sounding like a complete idiot.

"Let me show you, all the data is on Amita's computer. I'll fill you in on the blanks on the way up there" He finally answered.

As the three walked up to the room where Charlie had left he computer where he had spent thirty agonizing minutes worried sick about Amita, he explained how the morning had started not leaving out a single detail. Don merely listened without showing much emotion while Amita experienced quite the opposite. With every new detail she flinched, empathizing, almost feeling exactly what Charlie must have felt being played, controlled, taunted.

When they finally reached the room Charlie had nearly finished his tale of this morning's terror having ended exactly where he realized what the three words had spelled out. He pulled out the key to open the door and let them in. The computer hummed happily not being at all aware of the fear I had conveyed within Charlie when they came to a halt right in front of it.

"…. There were three seconds left to the clock when I guessed the sentence" Charlie said barely audible.

All three now faced the screensaver that Amita had created bouncing up and down the screen. Whatever Charlie had left behind on the computer was hidden behind the moving numbers on the screen. Charlie sat down in the chair in front of the computer and reached for the mouse. Instantly the screensaver disappeared and revealed…. nothing. No game he had left behind. No confronting sentence. Nothing to prove what he claimed was indeed true. Charlie stared at the computer screen in disbelief and anxiously moved the mouse up and down as if to bring back what had been there when he left for his office.

"What the…" He muttered.

He opened a PowerPoint session remembering he had made a screenshot of the game when he had guessed the sentence. He hesitated for a second, afraid that the image would not appear now either leaving Charlie with only his memory of what he had been forced to go through that morning. When he clicked to paste he sighed in relief. There it was. There they were; the three words and the game layout that had him kept in utter terror for a full half hour.

"This is all I have; I can't explain what happened to the rest. Although I still have the parcel and the card sent this morning in addition" Charlie turned his head towards his brother.

Don glanced at the screen, still no real concern showing on his face. Charlie watched as his brother turned to Amita.

"Amita, would you mind if I talk to Charlie in private for a minute?" He asked in a polite voice.

That did it for Charlie. His already tested nerves couldn't handle that last comment unleashing the pent up anger and stress, aiming it directly at Don before Amita had the chance to respond.

"Just go ahead and say it, Don! You don't think this is serious!" Charlie fired the words at Don.

"Charlie, don't raise your voice at me. I came here just as you asked and I just want to talk to you about this in private" Don replied hoping he sounded calm

"Amita is involved just as much as I am, Don, they got to her too. Whatever you have to say just say it." Charlie said through gritted teeth.

Don, now angered by his brother's provocation to say it like it was, lost control over his willpower to stay calm and ability to reason. Charlie had that effect on him, even from when they were little, knowing exactly how to push his buttons.

"What do you really mean by 'they got to her too' Charlie! She received a prank call, and you were yet again tricked into playing a silly game thinking people have the power to hurt the ones close to you by just using a computer! What do you expect me to think! Do you have any idea how ludicrous this sounds, Charlie! Excuse me for expecting a little more from my genius brother…!" Don almost exploded.

Amita silently witnessed the two brothers putting their lingering frustration into words when after Don had dropped the final bombshell she saw Charlie slowly get up from the chair and walk towards the exit.

"My gut just tells me something's really wrong, Don. For once numbers and equations can't tell me exactly why. And to tell you the truth I had expected more of my brother mostly relying on his gut feeling…." Charlie said in an ice cold voice and left the room, leaving Don and Amita just staring at each other.

---

While Don was driving back to the FBI office, he still was mulling over everything he had just said to Charlie. Thinking back, he realized that though he might have been a little harsh, he had meant every word. Obviously, someone was just playing with Charlie and he had let them get to him.

So far, nothing had happened except a prank phone call, a parcel delivered to Charlie's house and someone having Charlie's playing games on his computer. Those things were merely annoying, and although hacking might be illegal, it just wasn't worth the effort.

Last night he might have been a little irrational about it, fleeing to Charlie's rescue, playing the big brother part perfectly. But after a good night's sleep Don realized that he just had gotten himself carried away. Charlie was right about him relying on his gut feeling, and now Don was sure it was yelling at him that this was what it was, a game and nothing else.

When Don arrived at his desk, Megan immediately walked over to him. At first she was just waiting till Don would say something, but when she realized he was actively avoiding her, she sat on his desk and asked him to tell what had happened that morning.

"I realized that nothing happened, that's what happened" Don stated curtly.

Megan prodded further, "What do you mean nothing happened? Come on Don, you're not going to get away with that answer. Not with me, and you know that."

Don sighed, "Let's just say I don't think we should be spending this much time on it anymore." When Don saw Megan looking expectantly, he decided to tell her everything what happened.

"Charlie had to play a game again this morning, and was told that Amita would be in danger if he didn't win. To cut a long story short, he won and found out that Amita wasn't in any danger at all. Just like Larry's project. So, there you have it. Nothing happened, again." Don turned and looked at Megan.

"Well, nothing might have happened, but don't you think we should still investigate it? Last time I checked, cyber crimes like hacking still count as FBI cases. And Charlie was pretty freaked out about all of this. And frankly, I want to know what's going on as well" Megan said. "I called Larry this morning, asking him if anything happened to his project. Or maybe if he noticed something during the last few days, like unlocked doors or strangers hanging around, but he said he hadn't noticed anything."

"Knowing Larry Fleinhardt, that doesn't tell us much," another voice said. Colby walked up to them, and started to fill them in about his part of the investigation.

"Yesterday, David and I found nothing in Charlie's office. And this morning I had the tech experts look at Charlie's laptop, and they found some evidence that someone has granted themselves access at night on frequent occasion but we can't locate where the source is. All we know is that someone, from somewhere has access to wherever Charlie loggs in." Colby added. "Apparently, his web cam and microphone had been remotely activated, and that's how they were able to see and hear what Charlie was doing. However, they couldn't find a trace or any history of the game and picture we saw. Its like burglars breaking in, not taking anything and leaving the door open as evidence they were there."

Megan started nodding, showing the others she was agreeing with Colby. "My guess is that that person deliberately left that evidence, showing us that he is in charge. Well, like I said yesterday… showing us that he's in control"

"Yeah, but today he showed us that he's only faking it." Don stated. "He's making us think he's in control, while he's got nothing. I think we're dealing with some college kid who likes to stir things up. He's had his fun. It's over. And it's time Charlie knows that too."

---

The rest of the day Charlie had tremendous trouble concentrating. During classes he was absentminded, and when asked to explain a certain algorithm he started mixing up numbers and symbols leaving students even more confused. Amita had talked to Larry, and when he visited Charlie in his office during his office hours he found him sitting at his desk, staring out the window.

With a knock on the door Larry signaled his entrance, and Charlie looked up startled. Larry noticed he was very pale, and he could see the haunted look forming in his eyes.

"Don't… do that again" Charlie muttered, and turned to look outside again.

Larry walked over to the desk and placed himself right between Charlie and the window, effectively blocking Charlie's line of view.

"When students come up to me and complain that some other professor is not making any sense in their lecture, I'm intrigued as it is usually the other way around. When they proceed to tell me that that other professor is dr Eppes, I'm worried. Obviously the events of last night and this morning have had quite the effect on you, Charles." Larry said, bringing his left hand across his chest and his left hand to his head placing his fingers on his temple.

"You know what happened then?" Charlie asked, "Then please tell me, Larry, what should I do? Don is convinced that it's just a game. He called a while ago, they haven't found a trace yet, and he was suggesting I should ignore them from now on. On some level I have to agree with him, but I'm not sure I want to take that risk. What if the next time, something really happens? At this point there is an equal probability of it going either way." Charlie looked at Larry, the desperation showing clearly in his eyes.

"Charles, obviously there's no evident answer to this." Larry hesitated a second. "Let's go back to the data, what do we know? Someone has made contact with you via your computer and mail and has threatened to do damage to either my project or Amita. As I said to Megan this morning, nothing happened." Larry continued.

"I know!" Charlie exclaimed interrupting Larry, "That's what makes this all so frustrating. The facts put together it might seem right now that nothing will happen, and yet I am really scared that it will. And what's more frustrating, there's no real way to find out what will happen by not playing along." Charlie sighed.

"Is there?" Larry asked. "At the moment all you have is assumptions. Wasn't it Nobel Prize winner Alfven who once said that 'We have to learn again that science without contact with experiments is an enterprise which is likely to go completely astray into imaginary conjecture'?"

"Experiment? We can't do any…" Charlie's voiced trailed off while he realized what Larry was getting at.

"There's no real way to find out what will happen by not playing along… other than actually not playing along" Charlie softly stated.

Larry looked at him, nodding. "A field experiment".

---

While Charlie still didn't like it, he knew that he might not have any other choice. If he didn't put a stop to this now, this might go on forever. And now he had made his decision he found it easier to concentrate again. He had arranged for a temporary computer at the maintenance desk, specifically asking for one without web cam and microphone. He had set it up in his office and started to work on preparing lessons plans.

While working, Charlie continued thinking everything through, and every minute he became surer of his earlier decision. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? This was obviously some college kid with too much time on his hands. He might get pissed, but he probably wouldn't be able to cause any real damage anyway. Charlie was slowly building a tower of confidence, knowing that everything was going to work out fine, and even started to wait impatiently for the next contact. He had made sure that he was connected to the university's network, so all he could do was wait.

Sure enough, after a couple of hours, the screen flickered and a familiar message box appeared. Charlie expressed a sigh of relief and thinking, this is it!

"_Hello dr Eppes. Did you enjoy your morning? It must have been nice to hear Ms Ramanujan's voice again. You have showed that you're good at games and riddles, so here is another one. What happens when a father doesn't file his tax reports? Please click 'ok' to continue" _The message said.

Charlie swallowed hard. His tower of confidence suddenly began to show some cracks. He kept reminding himself of his choice, thinking that this was just a game like everything else. Nothing would happen if he didn't click 'ok'. With some willpower he took his hand of the mouse and left it lingering in the air.

After a few moments the screen suddenly flickered and another message appeared again.

"_What's the matter, dr Eppes? Can't find the mouse? It's in your best interest to click the 'ok' button. You don't want to find out what happens otherwise." _The message said.

Again, Charlie felt some more cracks appearing in his tower. It was if he was sitting at the top and he could see the bricks falling out. Yet he stayed determined and kept his hand far from the mouse. He kept staring at the screen and didn't notice his breath was becoming more rapid each second.

The screen flickered again, showing a new message.

"_Not in the mood for playing another game Dr Eppes? How incredibly disappointing…. But I'm sure we'll play again soon, whether you like to you or not... Just a little hint of what is coming: _

_Go to Jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200" _The message said.

With a loud beep the message disappeared.

Charlie's tower collapsed, leaving him freefalling through the sky and landing with a big crash. Shattered.

---


	6. Chapter 6

Charlie struggled internally and struggled hard. Ignoring the messages like he and Larry had discussed was harder than he had initially thought and had only confused Charlie opposed to making things easier and clear as he had silently hoped. His mind battled his gut feeling and he had an extremely hard time choosing sides. Even though he was convinced this was not to be taken lightly, that they had yet to see what power these people had over him and to what lengths they would go to prove that, his brother's words relentlessly echoed in his mind. 'Two so called assaults but no real danger. Pranksters.' Don had a point, but something was off. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Charlie just felt deep down somewhere Don was wrong.

But at the same time Charlie felt frustrated that he himself couldn't make up his mind anymore. Charlie felt torn between two sides. One being more than familiar to him, he had always been able to rely on his calculations and his ability to break down every aspect of a situation into numbers and equations so that he could get his head around something. But this new sensation of gut instinct was almost completely new to him. It was just there; lingering within, telling him that this was somehow very wrong. And yet both almost seemed to balance each other out now, trying to win him over with an equal indeterminable force.

Charlie contemplated the thought that if the people he cared about weren't targeted he might have been able to take some distance and clear his cluttered mind. But with the last message victim number three was announced. This time it was his father. And that made it so much harder to ignore the gnawing feeling that what had happened so far was only child play. Whoever they are, they were bound to be more capable than Don was willing to give them credit for.

As Charlie yet again found himself staring at the screen he suddenly heard a noise coming from the hallway. Charlie stared at a young woman standing in the doorway.

"Hey… Your cell phone is turned off." Amita said.

"The battery must be dead. What are you doing here this late?" Charlie said sounding blunter than he wanted.

"I couldn't stop thinking about what happened this morning. I called Larry and he told me about your experiment. I think I might be of help." She answered.

Charlie rubbed his eyes and let out a sigh. He was glad she was here, that he wasn't alone anymore but at the same time wished she hadn't come. This was his battle. He was determined to wave her off, he didn't need any help. Not from the ones close to him any way. The last thing Charlie needed was to worry about anyone else but his father right now

"You should go home." He said in a weary voice.

As Amita walked up to Charlie he suddenly snapped the laptop shut and got up from the chair. His sudden reaction left Amita standing stock-still in the middle of the office anticipating his next move knowing he was trying to brush her off. But he wasn't getting away that easily.

"Charlie…." She started.

"I'm going home. So should you." He interrupted.

But she didn't give up that easily.

"Are you shutting me out? Just like that? I'm offering help, Charlie; I think I found a way to put a trace on whoever is doing this to you with little chance of them noticing." She said in a voice thick with worry but with great conviction.

Charlie stared at her with his lips firmly pressed together and frowned. He knew Amita was good with computers and programs, and he had wanted to ask for her help only the fear of something dreadful happening had prevented him from asking. Now that she had come to him offering her expertise, again he was torn. Thinking logically, he should accept her offer simply because with her help they could turn the table around on whoever was behind this. But emotionally he couldn't. That would be placing her in danger if they ever found out she was helping to expose their identities. And they undoubtedly would, he was sure of that. Whatever she had planned was not airtight. She had said so herself.

"It's too dangerous. They'll find out it's you and lord knows what they'll do next. I'd never forgive myself if… They already have…" But Charlie couldn't finish the sentence.

"They already have what Charlie…? Did they contact you again?" She sped up to him and grabbed his arm. "Charlie, you need to talk to me. Did they contact you again? What did they say?" She pressed on.

"My dad." He said with a pained expression. "Something with my dad, filing tax returns and insinuating something will happen if he doesn't." Charlie finished, his hands gesturing confounded.

"But that doesn't make any sense, tax season is over and your father doesn't seem like the man to play games when it comes to that." She replied, slightly regretting the choice of words.

"That's not all; they mentioned something else when I didn't press the 'ok' button acknowledging their message…" He started.

"Net-send" Amita interrupted.

"…. Net-send… Those messages are called net-send?" He asked.

Amita only nodded hoping that he would continue and thankfully he did.

"They mentioned something about going to jail, not passing start and not collecting 200 $" He continued.

"Monopoly." She whispered.

Charlie decided it was best to sit down again. Another game, another stupid childish game. Charlie had made up his mind; it was all crystal clear to him. No matter how hard it was going to be he was more determined than ever to see this through and bring an end to this madness. He was not going to be played this time. He looked up at Amita who placed herself on a chair next to him.

"Are you sure you want part of this?" He asked her despite already knowing what the answer would be.

"That's why I came here remember. Now what do you say we go home and get some rest, it's getting late" She replied.

Charlie nodded.

---

Charlie felt relieved that his father had already gone to bed when he arrived last night and made sure that he left home before his father woke up. Avoiding his father was not something Charlie enjoyed but facing him after the net-send the hackers had left him he felt it was the best way to go about things right now At least until he knew more about the riddle and what they meant by it. Charlie was never good at hiding his emotions and he didn't want his father asking questions he'd rather not answer.

When he arrived at CalSci Amita was waiting for him at his office. He had an hour or so before his first class and Amita had the whole morning off before she had to attend her first class of the day. Charlie turned on the laptop and entered his password before handing it over to Amita.

She placed herself in front of the computer and pulled a CD from her bag placing it in the CD-ROM drive and turned to Charlie as the computer started to run the software.

"I've designed this program to monitor glitches and alterations in software for calculating complex data based algorithms. It is originally designed to run in the background to synchronize with the software to copy and track all the software runs and compile all the anomalies it detects. I have altered it so that it picks up on all alterations on common software that runs on a computer. Each computer has a registry, a mini data base for the computer where the essentials of software running on a computer can be altered or controlled. Because this software is programmed to only follow and compare the standard functions of a computer and cannot be altered, it will register any change in the registry and its source." She explained.

"So, whenever someone is to grant themselves access to the computer the software would identify that as an irregularity" Charlie said.

"Yes, and it will register the time and place the alteration took place on the hard drive and possibly the MAC-and IP address of the source causing the irregularity"

"And how is it that it is nearly undetectable?" Charlie asked, still not feeling at ease Amita was involved and wanting to know the exact details of what he was getting them into.

"This software is an exact copy of the already existing software on your computer. It merely runs aside all the others. It's like a mirror of the software. Because of that it hardly raises attention because it runs on top of the basics of a computer without really doing anything but filter and register what wasn't programmed by default." She explained as he finished the installation.

Charlie nodded in contentment. He felt less helpless and vulnerable now that they had done something. Though he still wasn't sure about Amita being involved.

When the software was installed, there was nothing to do but wait and Charlie decided that it was time he let Don know what had happened the night before. He had deliberately waited before calling him, because he knew that Don would blow it off as another stupid game again and Charlie just didn't have the energy to argue with him anymore. Still, he knew that he should inform Don now about what happened. After all, their dad might be in danger. Charlie would be doing everything he could to protect his dad, but he could use all the help he could get. And even though Don might not believe there was a real threat, he had spent time to investigate this and moreover, he would be very pissed when he learned that Charlie had not told him everything.

When Amita had left the office he picked up the phone and dialed his brother's number. After only a few rings he picked up.

"Eppes."

"Don, it's me. Yesterday I got another message." Charlie started, and before he could continue his brother's voice broke him off.

"Come on, Charlie. Don't you think it's enough? I told you to stop playing along and just ignore it." He rattled off with clear frustration in his voice.

"I did, Don. I didn't do anything, I didn't respond. But… he knew." Charlie muttered, his voice trailing off when he replayed yesterdays events again in his mind. Remembering the way the hacker had known that Charlie was there, and that he was not playing along had been terrifying.

"What do you mean, he knew? Knew what? Charlie, what are you talking about?" Don sighed, and Charlie could picture him in his mind. He could see Don sitting at his desk, his eyes closed in frustration and his hand running across his forehead. This image alone, the clear way in which Don didn't seem to take him seriously again, worked like a red flag and Charlie felt his frustration rising also.

"Don, he's going after dad, and if we don't do something, I don't know what will happen, ok?" Charlie nearly shouted, trying to contain his anger and unconsciously he started mimicking his brother's actions, closing his eyes and rubbing his hand across his forehead.

"Going after dad? Charlie, this is a kid who's playing with you, and he's got you right where he wants you. Believe me, nothing is going to happen, and certainly not to dad. The only one who is in danger is you, of losing your mind."

"Why won't you help me, Don? Why don't you believe me? Why don't you trust me on this?" Charlie almost started pleading with his brother.

"Look Charlie, I just think you are overreacting a bit. Let's face it; you are not the most stable person when it comes to situations like these, right?"

"When someone threatens to hurt my friends and family? No, of course I'm not stable!" Charlie started shouting in the phone, not caring about anyone who might hear him. "At least I care about my family, and I thought you did too. Guess I was wrong." Not being able to say more, Charlie hung up the phone with as much force as possible, disappointed that merely pushing the 'off' button on his cell phone didn't produce the same satisfying effect a normal, old-fashioned telephone would give him.

He stared at the phone in his hand and could not believe the conversation he had just had. Don had again refused to believe him, and he had just accused his brother of not caring about his family. Of course he didn't mean it, but right now Charlie found it hard to admit to that fact. Right now he was pissed, and knew that it would be on his shoulders from now on. He didn't have to count on Don's help, so it would just be him and Amita. He just hoped it wasn't too late.

---

When Alan had woken up that morning, he noticed that Charlie had already left. He had heard him come home late the night before, and hadn't had a chance to speak to him yet. Not that there was something particular to talk about, but he knew as a father that something was bothering his son and he was determined to find out what that was. Charlie had seemed a bit preoccupied the last few days, and now Alan was sure that he was avoiding him. A true sign that something was wrong. He made a mental note to make sure Charlie would be home for dinner and that he would talk to him then.

After doing his morning chores Alan grabbed his Sudoku puzzle book, took a pencil and settled on the couch. He had an appointment with Art that afternoon, and he enjoyed the little time he had left to do some puzzles. When Charlie was at home he tried to avoid doing them because Charlie had a habit of standing behind him, looking at the puzzle for only a minute and walking away again. Alan knew that that was all the time Charlie needed to complete a puzzle, even in his head, and although he never tried to help him, or give away the answers, it had a very annoying effect which made Alan decide to never do any Sudoku's with Charlie present again.

Alan was engrossed in his puzzle, and had just decided where to put the '4' when he was disturbed by the doorbell. He quickly scribbled the 4 in the designated box and walked to the door, his puzzle book still in his hand. While looking at the book, he opened the door and so he didn't really take in the look of the men standing before him.

"Are you Alan Eppes?" a stern voice asked which made Alan look up immediately. Only then he noticed that the men were both looking very official.

"Yes, I am. Who are you?" he asked confused, wondering if maybe something happened to one of his sons. The suits reminded him a bit of the FBI agents Don was working with, and he had the feeling something was wrong.

"IRS." The voice replied showing a badge. "We need you to come with us" Before Alan had a chance to react, one hand grabbed Alan by the shoulder while the other turned him around. An LAPD officer grabbed his wrists and then he felt the cold metal of handcuffs against his skin... The puzzle book, momentarily forgotten, slipped from his hand and landed on the floor. He was turned around again and was leaded towards a car on his driveway.

"What is going on?" Alan managed before the strong arms pushed him on the backseat.

"Tax fraud" was the only answer he heard.

---

Don stared at his cell phone fuming. This time Charlie had seriously crossed the line…. Don picked up the phone again and dialed their home number. He needed to speak to his father and talk about Charlie. He was worried about his little brother. Charlie could get carried away at times and their father was the best person to calm him down and convince Charlie that he was chasing ghosts. This was getting ridiculous but most of all tiring.

As Alan was escorted out of his house he heard the phone ring ... and although he had other issues to think about at the moment, he couldn't help but hope it wasn't anything important.

---


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Charlie wanted to be left alone, but Larry didn't seem to get the hint. Larry had come by his office, as he did every day in between classes or when the work day was near its end. As Larry babbled about some theory he was focused on, Charlie thought of ways to get Larry out of his office without hurting his feelings.

"Charles, your mind seems elsewhere." Larry had finally caught on.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Larry. It's just that I've had a tough time convincing Don to take these threats seriously." Charlie replied, thankful that Larry had noticed he was not in the mood for theory discussions.

"I see. Well Charles, I understand your point of view, but you need to respect that some times people require more tangible evidence before they can actualize the gravity of certain circumstances. The fact that you and your brother do not see eye to eye is not your fault, nor is it his. Give it time" Larry began.

"I know Larry, but I'm afraid that the tangible evidence Don seems to require as you put it, will be at the expense of my father. And frankly, I have no intention of letting it get that far because Don is too dense to see what's right in front of him." Charlie spat out the words.

"I'm sorry, but I fail to see how your father is involved in this, have I missed a critical piece of information?" Larry asked rubbing his face in confusion.

Charlie closed his eyes and shook his head. In all the commotion he had hardly spoken to Larry and thus had not yet mentioned that his father had been targeted next.

"After you suggested I stop responding to their next messages they mentioned my father as being the next target. I didn't respond and they made sure I knew I was making a huge mistake. The messages progressed from a teasing manner of speaking to even moderately hostile, and in one of the messages they said something about my father's taxes" Charlie explained.

Larry's eyes grew wide and Charlie knew he had not chosen his words carefully enough. He realized that Larry now must have felt responsible if anything happened to Alan for suggesting not to respond to see what the outcome would be. Charlie decided to ease his friend's mind. After all, it was he himself who decided that not responding would be a good way to gather more data.

"Don't worry Larry, so far nothing has happened yet. I'm sure to a certain extent that Don's right. But just to be sure I want to find out who these people are." Charlie quickly added.

To Charlie's relief the looks on his friends face changed to a more comfortable expression. It seemed that his last comment had managed to rectify his earlier almost accusing comment towards Larry.

"So I take it you took matters in your own hands?" Larry asked while strutting over to Charlie's laptop.

"Actually in Amita's hands. I have a fair understanding of computers and networks, but am no where near Amita's level of expertise. She has some software installed to finally get the data we need to pinpoint the location of these… these sick minds." Charlie's nose wrinkled revealing his frustration.

"Agreed, Amita's technical skills are quite extensive. I'm sure you will be able to gather the data you require to locate their whereabouts. Well, I'll leave you to it. Be sure to let me know if there is any news or anything I can do to help Charles" Larry replied.

"Will do, and Larry…. Thanks." Charlie answered.

"Just be patient, Charles. This will all be over soon. One of the many things in life we cannot control is time. Before you know it this will be another memory"

Larry's words had a comforting and calming effect on Charlie, which seemed to take the edges of his now spiking anger. His anger towards these hackers, who decided to make his life increasingly difficult. Anger towards his brother for being so reluctant to believe that the situation he was forced in to was no laughing matter. And his anger simply for feeling so incredibly powerless from time to time.

---

After ten rings, Don put down his phone. Obviously his dad was not at home. Don looked at his watch; it was just a little before noon. He knew that usually this was the time when his dad was trying to do some puzzles, and he had expected him to be home. He really wanted him to talk to Charlie.

Charlie really believed his dad was in danger, so Don just wanted to have his dad tell Charlie that he was alright. Of course Don didn't believe that Alan was truly in danger, he was only thinking about putting Charlie's mind at ease. He knew for sure that his dad was ok, he was just looking out for Charlie. Being the big brother and all.

With that in mind he tried his dad's cell phone number, hoping he had it turned on. But he heard it almost immediately; the phone had been completely switched off. Don sighed, over the last few minutes slowly a need had been growing to talk to his dad, to know that he was alright. Just for Charlie's sake of course.

---

Alan tried as hard as he could to stay calm as he waited in the room he was placed in before he would finally be filled in on why he had been arrested. He anxiously tapped his finger on the table when the door finally opened and a man in a suit entered the room.

"What is going on here, you people haul me into a car, handcuffed none the less, and don't tell me anything! I know my rights; you have no right to treat me this way!" Alan burst out to the man in the suit.

"Mr. Eppes, my name is Saunders and you have been put into custody because we have information on committing tax fraud," the man in the suit replied and sat down opposite Alan.

"Tax fraud! You arrested me for tax fraud! That is preposterous! You can't do this, you can't possibly have anything on me, all my papers are in order. I'm retired for goodness sake. What on earth could I have done tax wise to be arrested for tax fraud!" Alan bellowed.

"Mr. Eppes, we would not have taken you into custody if we didn't have enough evidence to hold you. Our records show that you have not paid you personal income taxes for more than seven years. This is a serious offense, Mr. Eppes; you could be looking at two to three years in prison for this." Mr. Saunders explained.

"I want my lawyer. This is insane! There is no way that I have not paid my income taxes for over seven years. This is the first I've heard of this, this is outrageous!" Alan was close to losing it.

"We are currently reviewing your whole family; we have just started an investigation on your wife's…." Saunders started

"DON'T YOU DARE BRING MY LATE WIFE INTO THIS!" Alan roared reaching over the table grabbing the man by his neck.

An officer who stood in front of the interrogation room had hurried in to free Saunders from Alan's clutching fingers. Saunders, who had been taken completely by surprise at Alan's sudden outburst panted while rubbing his neck where only moments ago Alan's firmly gripped hands had been. Alan was forced to sit down again by the officer, who had both his hands over Alan's shoulder

"Mr. Eppes." He panted raising from where he was seated and now leaning over the desk that separated him from Alan. "The years you had not paid you personal tax income, your wife was alive, healthy and working" Saunders cleared his throat." If you claim you have been completely tax complaint, you should have no objections to this investigation."

Saunders stood up, stretched his neck moving his head from right to left, still a little bothered at Alan's sudden attack, and walked up to the door. Before making his exit he turned around.

"And Mr. Eppes, attacking me again will only make matters worse. I suggest you be more cooperative if you want to spend your retirement days outside of prison walls." Saunders hissed.

Alan lowered his head in despair. He needed to talk to Charlie. He suspected that the reason he was in this predicament had something to do with those people that had threatened Charlie. Then Charlie could talk to Don and get him out of here.

---

After the talk with Larry, Charlie had considerably calmed down. He hadn't realized how much he needed to vent, but in hindsight that was exactly what he had needed. He had reminded himself of the fact that in Larry he had found another ally, so even when Don would not believe him, there were at least two people who did. The only thing that didn't settle well with Charlie was the persisting feeling that something **did** happen to his dad, despite his best efforts to convince Larry otherwise.

The effect his words had had on Larry didn't seem to carry over to him, more the opposite. Since the ominous message concerning his father, a dark feeling had been growing in his stomach. Slowly but surely he felt his heartbeat rise; he was beginning to feel nauseous and he had trouble concentrating. As much as he had been able to ignore his worry about his dad at first, he could now think of nothing else.

After much internal debate he decided he just needed to ease his feelings, making one quick call to his dad. He just needed to hear his voice, knowing that he was alright. He didn't want to worry his dad by telling him the real reason for the sudden call, so he decided he was going to ask him something trivial.

Just as he was reaching for his phone, thinking of a believable reason to talk to his dad, it rang. Charlie's hand froze in mid air. Somehow he knew that this was it, this was the call telling him his father was in danger. In a flash several scenarios played in his head, paralyzing him for a moment. Then slowly he reached for the phone.

A quick glance to the display told him it was an unknown number. That seemed to calm him a bit; he had been expecting the house number or maybe his father's cell. He cleared his voice, and picked up.

'Charlie Eppes.'

'Charlie, it's me,' his dad's voice sounded, and immediately Charlie felt like he had been hit by a truck, he knew it right away. Something was wrong, definitely wrong.

'Charlie, I need your help, I'm in serious trouble.'

'Dad, what's wrong? Where are you?' Charlie had trouble steadying his voice, trying not to upset his dad.

'I'm at the police station; they're saying I committed tax fraud.' Charlie could hear a sigh. 'Charlie, I am not sure I know what's going on. Of course I know I didn't commit tax fraud, so what **did **happen?'

'Dad... I… I don't know exactly what happened, but… but I'm going to do all I can to help you, ok? Amita's helping me; we're going to find the person who did this!' Charlie said, 'Don't worry.'

'Charlie, who are these people and why are they doing this to me, to us?'

Charlie didn't know how to respond to that for a moment, because he really had no idea himself.

But after a second Alan started talking again. 'Look Charlie, they're telling me my time on the phone is up, but I know that I can trust you and Don to sort this out, ok?' Charlie could hear the initial worry slowly disappearing from his dad's voice, and noticed the determination surfacing in his tone.

'Ok dad, hang in there ok?' Charlie just managed to say before he heard the phone hang up.

Charlie slowly took the phone from his ear and placed it on the desk. He knew he should call Don now, he knew he should be handling quickly to get his father out of there. But something his father just said was still echoing in his head.

The moment his dad had asked the question about the reason why he, or they, were the mark Charlie realized that he hadn't asked that question himself at all. Of course he had wondered about it, but he never really considered the implications, and that maybe this was the answer he was looking for ever since this whole ordeal started.

Why was he the mark? It was obvious that whoever was behind this was testing him, but why? Why him? What made Charlie so special?

Still staring at the phone on the desk, his mind was racing, trying to find the solution. Quickly Charlie got on to a line of thinking, something he hadn't really considered before. When he thought about it, all these games had had only one purpose, showing him that they could hack in his computer. This person wanted to show him that his internet security was not sound enough to keep them from breaking in. The hidden message behind all this was not only was the hacker smart enough to break in, but more that Charlie's security was inadequate. Or campus security more specifically, the one he helped design.

Charlie realized that the method of the 'crime', the hacking, was telling him something about the reasons behind it. There had to be something, concerning internet security, that made him special, that made him stand out. The moment he had formulated that exact description of what he was looking for he understood, and blanched.

He couldn't believe it, how did they know?

---


	8. Chapter 8

A/N : Hello everyone! This truly is the time of miracles, because we can actually present the next chapter in our story: Playing Games! The last chapter was posted on may 16th, so (to our shame) we have left you hanging for 7 months. We. Are. SO. Sorry about that!!!!

So, here it is, without further adue, chapter 8!

drumroll

---

Charlie had made a decision. Now that he knew how he got into this mess, well, at least now he had some idea of how he had gotten into this mess, he knew that it was up to him to get them out of it again. Of course, he shouldn't necessarily have to do it alone; he could still use all the help he could get. He didn't even have a plan yet. But now was the time that he took some action, and he started by picking up the phone.

It only took a couple of seconds for his brother to pick up.

'Charlie? What's up?'

Charlie was somewhat tense or he would have heard the slight trace of anxiety in his brother's voice. The brother who had known for sure that everything was alright.

'Don, it's… It's dad…' Charlie started.

'What about him?' Don immediately asked, and this time Charlie **did** notice the change in his brother's voice. He actually sounded like he wanted to know what happened to their dad, not disinterested like Charlie had expected.

'He… he just called. From the police station. He's under arrest, Don! Dad's under arrest!'

'What? What for? Why?' Don practically shouted through the phone, obviously upset.

'Well, he said they're charging him with Tax Fraud, but that can't be right. We know that, he would never…' Charlie rattled on, saying it out loud forced him to let the situation sink in a little deeper.

'I know, Charlie, I know.' Don cut him off, and continued to calm Charlie down a little, 'There must have been some mistake, ok? I'm going over there right now and talk to these guys, and… and they will see that there has been some mistake and everything will be alright.'

'Don, this isn't just some mistake, you know that. We knew that something was going to happen to dad, and this is it. I knew this was going to happen!'

This time Charlie first only heard a big sigh. Only then did Don answer.

'I… I want to find out what exactly happened before we jump to any conclusions. But if you're right… then I'm sorry, ok? But let me just get all the facts first.'

'Look Don, don't apologize. I got us into this mess, I'm…' but Charlie was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

'Hey Charlie, I have to go now. I have to go find out about dad and I'll call you as soon as I know anything.' And with that Don had hung up.

Charlie still sat at his desk with the phone pressed to his ear. After a couple of seconds he finally finished his earlier sentence.

'I'm sorry.'

---

After the phone call Charlie had some trouble getting into action again. He kept sitting at his desk, pondering over the situation so far. He had been contacted through a supposed to be secure connection several times where it had been made clear that Charlie was the target. Not some random person on the internet, not even some random person at CalSci, no… Charlie had been the specific target all along. And why? Charlie now knew.

It had been him because he had been involved in several internet security systems, one of which had been the security network at CalSci. By breaking in into this particular system, someone wanted to show him that this…, no, HIS security network had failed.

And to prove this they had messed with him, with his friends and with his family. Charlie had been wrong when he thought that now things had become personal. It had been personal all along. But now Charlie realized something else as well. No matter how irritating this situation with his father was, it was not dangerous or life threatening to anyone. He was convinced that it would all be sorted out. No, the situation was what it was, irritating. In hindsight Charlie could also see that there was never any plan to seriously harm any of his friends at all. They hadn't been the target. Only a ploy, a red blanket. No, now Charlie could see it all for what it was. A game. And he had been playing along the whole time.

But now Charlie was going to change the rules.

He reached for his phone and pressed speed dial number 5 to call Amita. Naturally his father, brother and mentor occupied the preceding numbers in exactly that order with voicemail being programmed standard under button number one.

"Charlie" Amita's voice sounded through the tiny speaker.

"I need you to do something for me" Charlie immediately responded in a business like tone. "I need data from our security network from a couple of months ago. I'll give you the exact dates, but I'd rather not do that over the phone or over the internet."

Amita paused before answering "What's going on Charlie?"

"Not over the phone" He repeated briskly "This is really important, can we meet somewhere?"

"Sure, let's meet at the…" Amita started, but wasn't allowed to finish when Charlie cut her off.

"I'll see you there in let's say an hour or so" He said hoping they both were thinking of the same place.

"Ok, I'll see you there" Amita repeated with great concern in her voice.

Charlie hung up and gathered everything he thought he was going to need for his meeting with Amita. If he was correct, if the back-tracing he had done was correct, Amita would have no problems getting him the information he needed to get his life back, and that of his family and friends.

Staring at his laptop Charlie's mind wandered back to the day that his father struggled with the immense pile of tax forms and how he had laughed and joked about how his father still did things the old fashioned way. He thought back on how he showed his father how he could do his taxes online and when Alan narrowed his eyes and asked him how secure this was. He remembered laughing out loud and explaining that they would connect to the campus network before submitting any data online. The secure network Charlie himself helped build…

Quickly dismissing any feelings of guilt he continued gathering his things, but paused when he looked at all the electronic devices he used to organize his life. A mobile phone with blue-tooth and the ability to connect to hotspots. A laptop that had the same functions, but contained his whole life in little bits and bites. Well… his old one before it was confiscated contained his whole life in bits and bites.

It alarmed Charlie on how dependant he had become on these electronic devices. He did his banking online, kept all his appointments accessible online in outlook express, a feature that came along with the software on his computer, did shopping online whenever he or his father was too busy to actually go do the groceries themselves and used online shops where he used his credit card more times than he cared to remember. The exposure was immense, and everything he did online, he did while connected to the campus network via a so-called secure network tunnel. The emphasis was on so-called, because this whole ordeal had started because of one giant hole in the system that resulted in one giant hole in his life. Never again would he overestimate his own abilities and never again would he depend on anything that could be so easily tampered with.

Disgusted with his own blind faith in the latest technology he threw his cell phone on the table, grabbed his keys and left the house without taking any of the things he usually couldn't do without.

---

Don wasn't quite sure what to make of this situation. For the first time since Charlie had been on his case being stalked and harassed by cyber terrorists he actually felt something was really wrong and he scolded himself for not believing his little brother sooner. He marched up to Megan and asked her to step aside for a moment.

"I need to go see about something. I can't say much about it just now but keep your cell close" Don ordered.

Megan rose one eyebrow "Does Merrick know you'll be gone?"

"He will, just before I leave… "Don answered coldly while he rubbed his chin "but I won't tell him what it's for. Not until I know more"

Megan nodded. With everything that went on in the Eppes' lives she had a pretty good idea why he had to leave.

She watched as Don marched into Merrick's office after and saw him leave only minutes after he had entered the office. The concern was clearly visible on Don's face and Megan found herself silently wishing he was going to be alright. She hoped everyone in his family was going to be alright.

---


End file.
